Same Sex Marriage Legal in California!
It has been by no means been an easy battle. There have been pleas, petitions and seemingly endless hours of waiting (not to mention hassling with the bigots). But we won–the Supreme Court of California just declared same-sex marriage legal!
The California Supreme Court overturned a ban on gay marriage Thursday, paving the way for California to become the second state where gay and lesbian residents can marry.
The court in a 4-3 ruling issued the long-awaited decision on its Web site, saying that domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage.
The opinion, written by Chief Justice Ron George, invalidated state laws requiring marriage to be between a man and a woman.
The cases were brought by the city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples, Equality California and another gay rights group in March 2004 after the court halted San Francisco’s monthlong same-sex wedding march that took place at Mayor Gavin Newsom’s direction.
Gay-rights organizations like Equality California called it a historical decision by the court.
The court ruled the state’s one man-one woman marriage laws violate the civil rights of same-sex couples.
With Thursday’s ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, California would become the second state after Massachusetts where gays and lesbians can legally wed.
So now my lovely fiancee and I will be getting married instead of “domestic partnered”. It’s amazing how much nicer that sounds (never mind all of the extra rights and privileges that come with it). Hooray for marriage equality!
Addendum. Several comments have arrived. The first is from Kim:
Hooray for marriage equality Indeed! This is such wonderful news. I am a new fan of your site and did not know that you were engaged. Congratulations on your pending marriage!
Thank you very much. I’ve been engaged for a few months and we’ve been waiting for the decision so we could see if we’d be getting a DP or a real marriage. Now that we know we’re going to tie the knot!
Next up is Ebon:
You and I both know how the right is going to react to this but now is not the time for such things, that battle can wait.
For now, congratulations and may you and your bride live long and in good health.
Thank you! They’re already vacillating between wringing their hands over how oppressed they are by the evil liberals and conniving to overturn it with their November ballot measure. Nonetheless even if they do get it on the ballot and the voters overturn it, anybody who gets married before then (and I’ll be in that group) is still legally married under the law. They can’t change that!
Next up is cognitive dissident:
Congratulations on the victory, and on your impending marriage!
Thank you! Of course now I realize we have to select our wedding bands. We’ve been anxiously awaiting the decision and never got around to doing that. Off to Love and Pride!
